Saranac Lake Photographer joins with poet for new show “Pull Over”

"Pull Over" exhibit by Larry Lobdell and Michael Tucker will open at the Plattsburgh City Library's gallery on July 18.

Two long-time friends and local artists have joined together for an exhibit at the Plattsburgh City Library which merges images of photography with the written word.

The show titled “Pull Over” is a collaborative show merging photography by Barry Lobdell and poetry by Dr. Michael Tucker. The exhibit features photographs and poems framed together. An exhibit opening and artists reception will be held on July 18 in the Hale-Walter Gallery at the Plattsburgh City Library, 19 Oak Street. The Gallery is one of seven off-sight galleries for the North Country Cultural Center for the Arts.

This is the first public showing of Tucker’s poetry.

Lobdell said he requested the library to house their project for its symbolic nature as a bastion of freedom.

“It is a real assortment of several themes,” Lobdell said. “They are all black and white photos chosen to work with Michael’s poetry.”

Lobdell said there is an “air of mystery” in the vast assortment of images from landscapes, portrait-like photos of people and more.

“There is energy between the photography and the poem that just really works,” Lobdell said. “There is a variety and everyone will find something of interest at the exhibit.”

Tucker said the pieces are about explaining the human experience by capturing very subtle moments.

“We’re not trying to be obscure, we’re trying to clarify,” Tucker said.

The words and images have been assembled from hundreds of possible combinations, with the objective of finding the synergy inherent in each combination to form a compatible and meaningful statement. On their own, each poem and photograph expresses an idea or set of ideas which the artist interpreted in his own way. Exhibited together, the pieces suggest additional ideas which are generated by their convergence.

“It is all about synergy of different kind of thoughts and explanation that is inherent in each piece, when combined it becomes more expressive,” Tucker said. “The poems are obscure, photos explain the poem and poems explain the picture.”

The pair have been friends for more than 40 years, Lobdell said.

“We appreciate each others work and we are very happy our work is being shown,” Tucker said.

Tucker called the alliance “serendipitous” and said together their work took on a more powerful meaning.

“Barry has pictures documenting our lives and my family, and I have a couple hundred poems but I didn’t know how to present them to the world,” Tucker said.

He said he saw an inherent compatibility between his work and Lobdell’s and hoped to merge their work into a book.

“We’re much closer to having the book finished, that’s the next step but for now we have the show,” Tucker said.

Lobdell is a photographer who lives in Saranac Lake. He is a member of the Adirondack Artists Guild, where his photographs are regularly on display. He has won many awards for his work in competitions throughout the North Country and has also exhibited widely in the eastern United States.

Tucker is the Director of Education at The Charlton School, a Residential Treatment Center for adolescent girls near Saratoga Springs. His career has solely focused on human differences. He said he started his writing career late. Finding the task of writing a novel artistically overwhelming, he found his escape from human sadnesses and faults in poetry.

“I had no use for poetry until I discovered I could fold big thoughts into small packages, like origami,” Tucker said.

Lobdell and Tucker said they hope people can come to the show and experience the artwork and find their own meaning, and not just look upon the meaning they set out to portray.

“When people come to the show it is most important they find the meaning in themselves,” Lobdell said.

“Come, let it effect you and let us know in the guest book how it made you feel,” Tucker said. “Our work is about you now, Barry and I have done what we can, hopefully people can come away from our show with something they didn’t have before.”

For more information about the artists visit their website at www.barrylobdell.com.